Afraid You'll Lose Your Job? This can save you time, effort, money, and much more...

Submitted by sfrederick on March 23, 2012 - 11:55am

This short article could save you a lot of time, effort, money, and something priceless: samples of your work. You see, people like Donna are often let go without warning. She went to work, thinking it was just another day. Then, she was summoned to the conference room, where a Human Resources manager informed her she was no longer needed. She was escorted to her desk to retrieve her purse and personal belongings, then out of the building. This was a major disaster for Donna.

Donna had many colleagues who could help her find another job—if only she had their contact information. But that information was stored on her work computer. True, she could painfully reconstruct some of it via LinkedIn, but she could only recall a small percentage of the many people she had built relationships with in her years with the company. Loss of these contacts easily added a month to her job search.

Plus, all her work samples were also on the company computer. Gone! Had she thought ahead, she could have created a nice hard copy portfolio and displayed her work on a web site.

This week, take action. Don’t procrastinate. Get your contact list—especially your references--out of the office so you have it. Then, think through which documents you would like to have for your records, your portfolio, or future reference. Copy them, email them to yourself, or put them on a flash drive.

You’ve worked hard. Don’t let your employer take this all away from you.